The ideal disaster survival game
So, over the past few years a new genre of video game has seemingly risen up out of nowhere - the survival game. While the genre has been around since Unreal World, it didn't hit the mainstream until Minecraft and Dayz. And those give us our two subgenres - the wilderness survival game and the disaster survival game (I say disaster and not post-apocalypse because it also encompasses games like This War of Mine). This genre is a strange thing, because it seems to be one of the most over-used genres lately while at the same time being the most underutilized. I'm not kidding, there is tons of potential in this genre beyond Minecraft clone number 5,105 and DayZ clone number 2,671. So let's talk basic mechanics in what defines this genre. Mechanic 1: Your character has various needs that must be met, or else you will die. This may be hunger, thirst, sleep, entertainment, etc. Mechanic 2: The game usually has perma-death. If you die, you need to start from the beginning (otherwise there'd be no reason to "survive," right?) Mechanic 3: In disaster survival games, scavenging is a main gameplay element. In wilderness, it's foraging that's the main gameplay element. And yes, some games can successfully fuse foraging and scavenging. For the purposes of simplicity, I want to only talk about disaster survival games. Because each sub-genre is - well should be - more distinct than they really are. Wilderness survival games could be so much more than they are. But disaster survival games? Well, they could be sooooo much more than just another zombie apocalypse simulator. In some ways this is just a wishlist for a better survival game, but in others I think that a game with these additions could be really, really good. So, let's go over some of the changes/additions/mechanics Change #1: No More Zombies/Pick a Different Disaster - Honestly, this is the biggest one. If you're doing a disaster survival game, changes are you're trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. And some great games have been made with this mechanic, like Project Zomboid. But let's talk about how it limits the genre. For the most part, in a zombie apocalypse game you've only got one type of enemy, and the zombies are usually useless on their own. As soon as the player accurately figures out how to defeat the enemy, it's only a matter of time before the mechanics break down and the game becomes boring. So... some other disasters that could easily work: * Enemy war invasion - So the enemy starts bombing your city and you must survive as long as possible. If This War of Mine proves anything, it proves just how much potential there is in all of this. Enemy soldiers with guns and bombs are a lot more scary and dangerous than zombies... who kind of hobble around, and aren't a threat on their own. * Natural disaster - Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, that kind of stuff. It has the quality of being the most likely to be accurate, or closer to reality, which is what some people definitely consider a bonus. * Last person - One day, every person on the planet just ups and vanishes in the blink of an eye. Every person, except for you. On the face of it, it doesn't seem too difficult, but if you were to tackle this realistically it could be the most difficult survival game of all. Here's an idea of what the "game" would play like: link Also, like this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermat… * Nuclear disaster - The Fallout series believe it or not, only talks about one aspect of this. From things like nuclear winter, to the destruction of the ozone leading to severe sunburns within minutes of outside exposure. Here's another video: link * Disease disaster - You know, zombies aren't the only way that even a speculative disease could ravish the land. I mean, just a plain super disease ravaging the population to about 10% could be enough to sustain a survival game. But there are many other ways to take this. Diseases that have symptoms like hallucinations released en masse. Or diseases that could affect different demographics differently, like a more deadly version of the chicken pox that mutated, killing the vast majority of adults while leaving children feeling only (relatively) minor symptoms. Change #2: Family/Relationships - Now, one of the biggest draws of this genre of video games is that... well, you're on your own. Whether or not you survive is entirely up to you. And for this suggestion, it'd require risking one of the perceived cores of the genre. But believe it or not, if a game could pull this off in a serious manner, I think that it'd really take off. Instead of just being one person, maybe have a family who you're trying to keep alive during the disaster. Two parents, and a set of kids. Maybe an infant. On the base level, this change raises the challenge immediately. No longer just looking for food and water, but things like infant formula and diapers. It makes decisions harder, definitely, especially when you run low on food or other supplies. If your key scavenger is injured, you may be more tempted to go out even though it could end up very badly for you. I dunno, I just think that it's a concept that could really work if given a shot. It worked very well with Dead Rising 2, maybe something like that just expanded into the main mechanic of the game. The "team" doesn't have to be a family though (although that's a mechanic I'd really like to see). It could be a group of survivors, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Dead State managed to pull that off pretty well, and it's a mechanic that I'd like to see explored a little more. Change #3: No Such Thing as Safe (House) - Unilaterally there is one point where a survival game begins feeling boring - that is when your safe house is allowed to feel safe. Here's how a typical Project Zomboid game goes when you get really good at it - find a house, build a wall around it, secure it with enough food. Then stay there until you get bored, go out, do something stupid, and get killed. What I'm saying is that your getting bored shouldn't be what gets you killed in the end with these games. This can be easily fixed by showing the player that the threat is right outside of their home. Maybe some random events like a storm that creates a break in the security. Things like that. '''Change #4: Urban Areas '''I don't know if it's just me, but I'm really tired of these zombie games where you're on sparsely populated islands or on small suburbs with a lot of space in between the houses. In these games I want to scavenge through huge buildings, like 16 story skyscrapers, large malls where looters group up and hide. I dunno, is that just me? I mean, it doesn't need to be an unlooted city. I just want more than sparsely populated islands with five miles between the three gas stations and two town blocks on it. ---- And these are just a few ideas. I got more of them, but there are other things I must do now. This genre has so much more potential beyond... you know... RAWR zombies. Category:Miscellaneous